Auto Racing Earnhardt`s Flat Tire Lets Elliott Win Champion 400

BRIEFING

August 16, 1987

Bill Elliott, who says he`d rather be lucky than good, was both Sunday in edging Dale Earnhardt for his 20th career NASCAR victory. Earnhardt, running out of gas and with a flat tire, could only watch as Elliott cruised past him with two laps remaining to win the Champion Spark Plug 400 stock car race in Brooklyn, Mich.

``His car was a little looser than mine at the end,`` Elliott said. ``I don`t think I needed a mistake to beat him, though.

``If it`s like they say that Earnhardt had a flat tire on the last lap, then it never hurts to be good here at MIS. And sometimes I`d rather be lucky than good.``

It was the sixth victory in his last eight starts at Michigan International Speedway and the third victory this year for Elliott, who also has won at Talladega and Daytona.

Elliott, driving a Ford Thunderbird, beat Earnhardt`s Chevrolet Monte Carlo by .76 of a second in a race that took two hours, 53 minutes, six seconds to complete. Elliott`s average speed around the two-mile, high-banked oval was 138.648 mph.

Morgan Shepherd was third in a Buick Le Sabre. Rusty Wallace, winner last week in the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen, was fourth in a Pontiac Grand Prix. There were 15 lead changes among eight drivers in the race, which saw five caution flags for a total of 26 laps. There were no serious accidents in the race watched by a crowd estimated at 72,000.

The victory moved Elliott from third to second in the Winston Cup standings, 498 points behind Earnhardt, who leads with 3,151 points.

Elliott, 31, whose string of five consecutive wins at MIS was snapped by Earnhardt at the Miller 400 in June, started the race in the third position and played a waiting game through most of the afternoon.

Elliott took the lead on the 138th lap but gave it up to pit when the yellow caution flag went up 12 laps later. Wallace, who led several times during the race, took the lead again with 11 laps remaining, but hit the wall on the fourth turn, allowing Earnhardt back into the lead with five laps remaining...

The start was delayed one hour and 39 minutes by rain and then the scheduled 500-mile race was red-flagged for 30 minutes because of torrential downpour. It was halted after 328 miles by curfew at 7 p.m. with Cobb of Evergreen, Colo., and Dumfries of England declared the winners.

Chip Robinson of Oldswick, N.J., and Al Holbert of Warrington, Pa., finished third in another Porsche 962.

MEARS ENDS VICTORY DROUGHT

Rick Mears ended two years of frustration with a victory in the Quaker State 500 Indy-car race at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., taking the checkered flag with his car running out of fuel.

His 1986 March, powered by a new Chevrolet-Ilmor engine, began to sputter and died momentarily in the last turn of the last lap, but it ran long enough for Mears to take his third 500-mile victory at Pocono. Mears passed Roberto Guerrero 17 laps from the end and ran away to the finish, picking up his first victory since the 1985 Pocono race.

Geoff Brabham of Australia was second, finishing ahead of Guerrero, who had to pit for fuel five laps from the end.

Mears, a three-time Indy-car champion who now has 21 career victories, had gone 27 straight races without a win. The 35-year-old driver from Bakersfield, Calif., earned his fifth 500-mile victory -- three on Pocono`s 2.5-mile tri- oval and two in the Indianapolis 500. . .

Nigel Mansell celebrated his 100th Grand Prix by capturing the Austrian race in Zeltweg in record time. The Briton moved past Williams-Honda teammate Nelson Piquet on the 21st lap with a daring move in traffic for his 11th career victory and fourth of the year.

At the finish, Mansell had a 55.7-second margin over Piquet, who drove conservatively to hold onto second. Piquet retained his lead in the drivers championship this year with 54 points. Mansell moved into third with 39 points.

Mansell averaged 147.138 miles per hour.

The race was marred by accidents at the beginning, causing two restarts, damaging 16 cars and delaying the race by more than an hour. No one was injured. Mansell himself caused one of the accidents when he had problems with his clutch on the second restart. He was slow in leaving the grid, causing damage when several cars collided in trying to squeeze past.

SWIMMING MORALES HELPS U.S. CONTINUE PAN PACIFIC DOMINATION

World-record holder Pablo Morales and Steve Bentley led the way as the United States again dominated on the fourth and final day of competition at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Brisbane, Australia. Morales won the men`s 100-meter butterfly final in 53.37 seconds, beating Los Angeles Olympic gold medalist Jon Sieben of Australia, who finished second.